If part of the American dream is that your children will do better than you did in life, this country is headed in the wrong direction. Nearly one third of Americans who were raised in the middle class dropped down the economic ladder as adults — and that’s before the Great Recession hit.  Click here to learn more and see a report by CNN.

The Pew Economic Mobility Project looked at children born in the early- to mid-1960s and assessed their economic status roughly 40 years later.  Nearly one in two Americans is now.  Click here to read more about America’s new poor.

Breathe easy, though, the company says it will still continue churning out it’s classic snack cakes through-out the proceeding. Phew!

A company spokesman says Hostess does not plan to lay off any of its employees or close any plants. So the CupCakes and Sno Balls will keep on coming.

The company has about 19,000 full-time and part-time employees, including 10,413 hourly workers and 8,436 salaried workers, according to a court filing. About 83% of the employees are union members.

Gift cards are one of the most popular presents people give for the holidays. Now, there’s a new form of gift card you might not have heard about.  They’re called “mobile ” gift cards, and they’re part of the craze that puts everything on your mobile device.  Click here to learn more about this new type of gift card and some rules for smart shopping from WOIO-TV in Cleveland.

Four rules for smart gift card giving:

1. Beware of unwanted cards

To ensure that your gift card doesn’t go to waste — or turn up at a garage sale (or resale site) — make sure you’re buying something the recipient really wants. Based on a post-holiday survey of the most widely resold gift cards, CardCash.com found that gift cards tied to airlines, spa treatments, high-end boutiques and seasonal shops are quite unpopular. Sometimes cash is actually a better substitute. (For more specifics, check out: 5 gift cards your friends don’t want)

2. Keep an eye on fees

Experts at CardHub.com advise against buying general-purpose gift cards like the Visa gift card or American Express card, because they may carry purchase or other types of fees. To compare general-purpose cards by fees, check out this chart by Bankrate.com. Many of the cards listed do have, at least, purchase fees of around $4.

Click here to read more from WOIO.

‘Tis the season for frustrating phone scams. Naughty people are phishing for your personal information, and it’s not your holiday wish list they’re after.  A new wave of harassing phone calls is targeting people who submit auto-loans online.  Think twice before you try to pre-qualify for your next auto loan.  You may put your personal information at risk for identity theft.  Click here to learn more in this story from CBS News in Denver.

Angie & her Family at the Emmys!

Consumer Warning Network Editor Angie Moreschi was honored with two Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards on Saturday, December 3rd.  It was an exciting evening that she shared with her family at the black tie gala in Ft. Lauderdale.

The Emmys are for Angie’s health magazine program SMART HEALTH, which airs on WEDU-TV in Tampa and other PBS stations through-out Florida. Angie was nominated in five categories and won two; for best Informational Program and for a story on Florida’s Pain Pill Epidemic. SMART  HEALTH features stories on medical breakthroughs, healthy aging, innovative treatments and personal triumphs. It’s part of HealthyState.org – an innovative public media project focused on providing the latest medical health information available in Florida.

Click here to watch the show and story that won.  And join us in saying Congratulations to Angie!

‘Tis the season to do lots of online shopping, and while the internet can be a safe and easy place to do business, there are also plenty of scammers in the cyber world trying to target unsuspecting consumers.  Don’t give them the chance. There’s a great website that can help you to avoid becoming a victim of an internet fraud scheme.  The site is ever so appropriately called LooksTooGoodtoBeTrue.com.

It was developed and is maintained by a joint federal law enforcement and industry task force.  The website offers Consumer Alerts on potential scams trying to target shoppers and ways to protect yourself.

Here are some key tips the site offers to avoid becoming a victim of cyber fraud:

• Do not respond to unsolicited (spam) e-mail.
• Do not click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail.
• Be cautious of e-mail claiming to contain pictures in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders. Always run a virus scan on attachment before opening.
• Avoid filling out forms contained in e-mail messages that ask for personal information.
• Always compare the link in the e-mail to the web address link you are directed to and determine if they match.
• Log on directly to the official Web site for the business identified in the e-mail, instead of “linking” to it from an unsolicited e-mail. If the e-mail appears to be from your bank, credit card issuer, or other company you deal with frequently, your statements or official correspondence from the business will provide the proper contact information.
• Contact the actual business that supposedly sent the e-mail to verify that the e-mail is genuine.
• If you are requested to act quickly or there is an emergency, it may be a scam. Fraudsters create a sense of urgency to get you to act impulsively.
• If you receive a request for personal information from a business or financial institution, always look up the main contact information for the requesting company on an independent source (phone book, trusted internet directory, legitimate billing statement, etc.) and use that contact information to verify the legitimacy of the request.
• Remember if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

If you do become a victim of internet fraud, the LooksToGoodtoBeTrue.com website also offers a link for you to  file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Trade Commission.  You can also see the latest “FBI email Scam Alerts!”

Don’t be a victim this holiday season. Educate yourself on the latest scams and tricks fraudsters are using to try and separate you from your money.